How To Patch vSphere 5 ESXi Without Update Manager

I wanted to document this real quick as I keep having to do this in my home lab on a semi-regular basis. Since I only have a single physical server, and I use the vCenter appliance, I have no vSphere Update Manager installed for this one physical box. I do use it for all my nested vSphere ESXi machines in the rest of the lab, but I do need to update the physical one on occasion. Many of you may have run into this in the past that it is a bit of a pain since the new tools including the Remote Command Line do not support a direct “Upload” of a patch file to ESXi. With that here is the most basic and simple way I found to handle the process. Since vSphere ESXi 5.0 uses the new VIB model the commands and process have changed slightly but the basic concepts are the same.

Make sure your host is in Maintenance Mode, this is a requirement since you will need to reboot

Transfer the update file over to the host using FileZilla or SCP to a MOUNTED DATASTORE of some kind. NOTE: There is not enough space to transfer this to a location on the local ESXi Image. It took me a bit to realize this was failing to copy.

Once you have uploaded the file to a datastore, this is considered a “Local Depot Repository” as opposed to one on FTP or HTTP.

Now that the file has been transferred to a datastore you can patch a single host or multiple hosts that are mounted to that datastore either with the local tools via SSH remote support mode, or the Remote Command Line Tools using the esxcli commands. I am sure there is also a PowerCLI option as well I just have not tried it, but Justin Guidroz has posted a way to do so on his blog so check it out if you are a PowerCLI user.

NOTE: If you try and use the old esxupdate command, which by the way is still there, you get this message:

~ # esxupdate
Usage: This program is not meant to be used directly. Please use esxcli image/software instead.
esxupdate: error: Command must be specified
Usage: This program is not meant to be used directly. Please use esxcli image/software instead.

The esxcli commands are also available in the remote command line but when you run them you will see you cannot “upload” directly which is why you may just want to run them locally. It is also worth pointing out that esxcli “Image” is not a valid command. The correct syntax will be something like this. If you are using the Remote Command Line you will also need to specify the server and login credentials. The syntax below without those is for the local SSH versions.

Now you can reboot your system and it should have the latest version of the ESXi firmware and tools installed. Not too hard, but getting the syntax and the file location is a bit tricky. You can also now delete the patch file from the datastore. I hope this helps a few people with small home labs out or folks that need to apply specific VIB patches to their hosts without Update Manager.

Thanks to William Lam and Justin Guidroz for pointing out the fact the remote tools can also be used but ONLY AFTER you still copy the file to a Datastore ‘Depot’

Chris is currently a Field CTO for Tintri. In his role he spends the majority of his time talking to customers and partners alike helping develop use case architectures for the Tintri platform and software. He also acts as an active interface between the field and engineering/product management. Chris is active on the VMUG and event speaking circuit and is available for many events if you want to reach out and ask. Previously to this he spent close to a decade working for VMware as a Principal Architect. Previous to his nine plus years at VMware, Chris was a System Administrator that evolved his career into a data center architect. Chris spends a lot of time mentoring co-workers and friends on the benefits of personal growth and professional development. Chris is also amongst the first VMware Certified Design Experts (VCDX#37), and author of multiple white papers. In his spare time he helps his wife Julie run her promotional products as the accountant, book keeper, and IT Support. Chris also believes in both a healthy body and healthy mind, and has become heavily involved with fitness as a Diamond Team Beachbody Coach using P90X and other Beachbody Programs. Although Technology is his day job, Chris is passionate about fitness after losing 60 pounds himself in the last few years. Now he spreads both the word of technology and fitness along with the Team Beachbody Business through his blogs.

It is really a matter that now you need to have a “Repository” which can actually be locally on ESXi, then you can run the commands from the console or via the remote tools, but the files need to exist

when i run the command esxcli software vib install -d /vmfs/volumes/[DATASTORE]/[PATCH_FILE].zip I get an error message that basically says no such file or directory. I know the file is there. How can i verify the path of the data store?

Hello Chris,
I have a problem with an unstable NIC connection so i manage to update my esxi5 469512 installation with the latest driver update, that should work. Problem is: i don’t have any reliable remote access. (i loose connection to the esxi
every one minute and have to restart the management network locally)
So i can’t use Vpshere, Update manager, Vcli or even vMA.
I know it’s possible to do updates with esxi local shell.
I can access the shell now but then how can i upload the .zip file to the local datastore (esxi’s installed on USB key). How can i mount the esxi usb key on another OS (linux?) to transfer the zip in
vmfs/volumes/[DATASTORE] without network access?
Do you have any idea?
Anyway thanks for your help.

I’m not sure about the NIC issue, but in regards to the upload, is there another host with access to a shared Datastore you can upload through? The DATASTORE should not be located ON the USB key install usually. In my case my USB is only 1GB and has no room for a Datastore

It should be a real vSphere Datastore. So if you have an NFS or other shared datastore you can upload the update through another host that has access to the same datastore. Or if it is an NFS datastore you can upload from another machine entirely. Best thing is to try and create a remote datastore that is NFS you can upload the image to from a linux machine.

I would not try to install the USB key to another machine, I’m not sure what that would do to be honest.

This thread from August 2012 says some are and some are not:http://communities.vmware.com/message/2096741#2096741
It states that “Usually the “UpdateXX” patches are cumulative…” but that “The updates following Update01 however should all be applied in the correct order.”

For safety’s sake, I’d follow the 2nd discussion’s approach.
On a related note, if there are multiple non-updatexx patches, I apply them in order and reboot after they’ve all been applied.
I’ve tried to track down whether or not that’s a problem, but haven’t found any opinion.

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